Triangle

Raleigh City Council will let a committee study whether to legalize Airbnb and other short-term home-rental companies. The committee will be led by Councilwoman Mary Ann Baldwin, who has supported local users of Airbnb, which allows homeowners to rent their houses to travelers for nightly stays.

Increased property values and unexpected costs have brought the cost of Raleigh's planned Amtrak station and transit hub to $84 million. If Raleigh City Council doesn't approve the extra funds, the city may have to eliminate or postpone elements in the project's master plan. Construction is scheduled to begin in March.

Alistair Macdonald was named the first president INC Research, the Raleigh-based contract research organization that went public in November. Macdonald has been chief operating officer since January 2013 and has been with the company since 2002. INC employs 5,400 people worldwide, including 850 in the Triangle.

The 127,000-square-foot Raleigh office building that is home to Salix Pharmaceuticals has sold for $27.45 million. Virginia-based Allegiancy acquired the property, which is off Six Forks Road near I-540.

Triangle companies raised $163.5 million in the fourth quarter, about 60% more than the amount raised in the prior three quarters combined. Two Durham-based companies, Viamet Pharmaceuticals and Phononic Devices, led a group of 13 companies, raising $60 million and $44.5 million respectively.

Concord Hospitality Enterprises and Kane Realty will develop a 133-room AC Hotel at Raleigh's North Hills. It's the third hotel the Raleigh-based companies have partnered on at North Hills. The hotel is expected to open next year.

Raleigh-based Kane Realty filed a rezoning request for a 2.5-acre site in Raleigh's warehouse district currently owned by Dillon Supply. The North Hills developer is looking to redevelop the site into offices, apartments and retail shops. The property is located opposite Citrix's new regional headquarters, which was acquired last month by a New York real-estate firm for $68.5 million.

Lake Forest, Ill.-based Hospira plans to close its Clayton manufacturing plant in June, affecting 250 employees. The company will either discontinue making the four medical products produced at the Clayton plant, shift production to another location or to a third-party manufacturer, or sell them to another company.

The Body Shop will close a customer-service center in Wake Forest where it employs 145 workers. About 10 affected employees will be offered jobs at a new planned U.S. headquarters in New York City or at offices in New Jersey. Owned by L-Oreal, United Kingdom-based The Body Shop makes and sells beauty and skin-care products at more than 3,000 stores worldwide.

Shares of Morrisville-based ChannelAdvisor fell 54% Tuesday as seven analysts downgraded their ratings on the e-commerce company's stock. The company reported on Monday that fourth quarter revenue would be about $23.7 million, less than the $25.6 million to $26.1 million it had previously projected.

Durham-based Chimerix was awarded a 20-year patent for brincidofovir, an antiviral drug that is being tested on Ebola patients in clinical trials. Following the announcement, an analyst at William Blair & Co. increased the target price of the drug developer's stock from $46 to $53. Chimerix shares have increased 134% over the past year.

Raleigh City Council unanimously approved a deal to buy the 308-acre Dorothea Dix property from the state for $52 million. The agreement will allow for the creation of a destination park in the heart of the Capital CIty on the property that was once home to a psychiatric hospital.

A press conference on the future of the Dorothea Dix property in Raleigh is scheduled for Monday, according to a post on state Rep. Duane Hall's Twitter account. Civic leaders have led a push to redevelop the 308-acre former psychiatric hospital campus into a destination park, however city and state officials have been unable to negotiate a deal.

An affiliate of Capitol Broadcasting paid more than $14.3 million for the 71,000-square-foot building in American Tobacco Campus where personal-care products manufacturer Burt's Bees has been based since 2009. Capitol Broadcasting has invested more than $200 million renovating buildings on the old tobacco campus into an office, residential and entertainment complex (Cover Story, December).

Rex Healthcare named Steve Burriss interim president, effective immediately. He replaces David Strong, who will become CEO of Orlando Health in Florida. Burriss has worked for Rex since 1998; his positions have included VP of operations and ambulatory services.